This creates an awful self-reinforcing feedback loop where we underfund public amenities that would make life easier for all of us, because we think they’re just for those people.
This is the crux of this article. And it is unfortunate that we all can't see how public amenities benefit ALL of us. It is a very similar line of argument made in the book 'The Sum of Us' by Heather McGhee which is more about how racism hurts everyone, because many people don't want minorities to 'get' something.
Years ago when I was studying music in NYC, I used to take the train from Brewster, NY to Grand Central Terminal. GCT had pay toilets and pay showers. NYC made pay toilets illegal. GCT put up a partition so that only 2 stalls and 2 urinals were available, and took away the showers. The NYC subway system does have public bathrooms. They are about as filthy as you would expect regarding a subway system public bathroom, but as the old saying goes..."Any port in a storm."
People will complain about the homeless sleeping in the public bathrooms. Ok, it's a problem. Until we do something right when it comes to dealing with the mental health issues of the homeless, we will continue to have an increase in the homeless population. That will never happen as long as poverty remains a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry, or is it racket?
I tend to think it would be a net positive for certain public services to charge a fee in order to pay for upkeep and maintenance. If free services result in low quality services, the equity benefits are less appealing.
The problem with "free" is it has no value. A lot of people value things and services on what they pay for them. I haven't been to Europe in years, but I do remember just about all of the towns and cities had some free public bathrooms, but there were a lot of pay bathrooms. Then there was Paris...That's a different discussion.
This creates an awful self-reinforcing feedback loop where we underfund public amenities that would make life easier for all of us, because we think they’re just for those people.
This is the crux of this article. And it is unfortunate that we all can't see how public amenities benefit ALL of us. It is a very similar line of argument made in the book 'The Sum of Us' by Heather McGhee which is more about how racism hurts everyone, because many people don't want minorities to 'get' something.
Years ago when I was studying music in NYC, I used to take the train from Brewster, NY to Grand Central Terminal. GCT had pay toilets and pay showers. NYC made pay toilets illegal. GCT put up a partition so that only 2 stalls and 2 urinals were available, and took away the showers. The NYC subway system does have public bathrooms. They are about as filthy as you would expect regarding a subway system public bathroom, but as the old saying goes..."Any port in a storm."
People will complain about the homeless sleeping in the public bathrooms. Ok, it's a problem. Until we do something right when it comes to dealing with the mental health issues of the homeless, we will continue to have an increase in the homeless population. That will never happen as long as poverty remains a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry, or is it racket?
I tend to think it would be a net positive for certain public services to charge a fee in order to pay for upkeep and maintenance. If free services result in low quality services, the equity benefits are less appealing.
The problem with "free" is it has no value. A lot of people value things and services on what they pay for them. I haven't been to Europe in years, but I do remember just about all of the towns and cities had some free public bathrooms, but there were a lot of pay bathrooms. Then there was Paris...That's a different discussion.